Crimson Tide Comedian

You Tennessee fans probably know who Tom Mattingly is and about his column/blog, “The Vol Historian,” but I will explain for the benefit of those who don’t.  Tom Mattingly is the resident guru of all things sports-related at Tennessee (especially football).  His blog is great because it gives young folks like me (okay I’m not that young) a chance to experience some of the great and interesting moments in Vols history.  I say “experience” because of the way that Mattingly writes and relates to his readers.  He is to Vols history what John Ward was to Vols games – they have a special gift for making it come alive, as if you were there.

Mattingly also has a book, The University of Tennessee Football Vault, which has been highly recommended to me by some of my friends even though I haven’t had a chance to read it.  Maybe he will read this post and send me an autographed copy for giving him a shameless plug here (yeah right).  He also has a book about Peyton Manning’s years as a Vol.

Today, he posted about the 1970 game against Alabama, and it made me laugh:

In 1970, Tennessee intercepted eight Alabama passes, five off Scott Hunter. That prompted Tide receiver David Bailey to look at quarterback Scott Hunter and say, perhaps in jest, perhaps not, “This time, throw the ball to them, and I’ll see if I can intercept it.”

Hunter eventually made it to the NFL, leading the Packers to their last division title until Brett Favre came along (yeah, Favre is everywhere these days) and also playing for my beloved Bills.  Bailey is tied for second with himself behind DJ Hall in the Alabama record book for most receptions in a single game (‘69 and ‘70), both against Tennessee incidentally, and he is also on that same list two more times.  He is also second in most receiving yards in a single game behind David Palmer (makes me want to vomit), both of which were the same two games where he has the reception records.  Note that one of those games happened to be the 1970 game that Mattingly is talking about.  Tenessee beat ‘Bama by scores of 41-14 in 1969 and 24-0 in 1970.  Tennessee wouldn’t beat Alabama again until 1982 with Johnny Majors at the helm.